17 Mar 05. Melbourne International Airport is one of three Florida airports in the running for a $600m EADS aerospace-defense project that is promising as many as 1,150 high-paying jobs. Communities in as many as 34 other states also are seeking the project. Although Melbourne International is considered a long shot to get the contract, local economic-development officials are pleased the local airport is even in the running for the project. A decision is expected by the end of the year. Officials at Melbourne International said the two other Florida airports vying for the project are Cecil Field in Jacksonville and the Panama City-Bay County International Airport. The three Florida airports are among dozens of U.S. sites — the exact number hasn’t been publicized — expected to compete for the $600m business venture known as the European Aeronautic Defense and Space North American Project.
16 Mar 05. The Spanish minister for defence, Jose Bono, declared yesterday that the decision for where in Spain to locate the new Eurocopter factory to produce Tiger attack helicopters was the responsibility of the company itself, not the government. A number of autonomous regions in Spain would welcome the plant, including Madrid, Aragon and Castilla-La Mancha, which feature the necessary airport and helicopter industry installations. Mr Bono noted that Eurocopter would supply Tigers to the army and to Spain’s law enforcement forces and agencies. Eurocopter is a subsidiary of European aeronautic defence and space company EADS. (Source: Abstracted from Expansion)
07 Mar 05. Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing (CWCEC) has announced the opening of its new Interoperability Laboratory (CWC-IL), located in Dayton, Ohio. The innovative operation will provide a centralized test center and serve CWCEC’s entire product offering, including rugged and commercial boards and subsystems. The CWC-IL will accelerate the company’s ability to respond to its customers’ increasing requirements for fully integrated building block solutions by providing a dedicated staff and resources to verify system component compatibility. The CWC-IL represents an innovative approach to addressing product interoperability, traditionally one of the embedded computing market’s most daunting challenges. CWCEC, with its broad range of market leading technology and unmatched product depth, is uniquely positioned to provide whole system integration interoperability testing, resulting in increased reliability, reduced cost and faster time to market for its customers’ designs. The newly launched Interoperability Lab will expedite, formalize, and improve the consistency and quality of CWCEC’s interoperability testing program. The CWC-IL team, led by Dayton’s Technical Support Manager, Rae Beeman, will manage the company’s collective interoperability matrix. This will result in timely, accurate communication on the interoperability status of CWCEC’s vast portfolio of products.
14 Mar 05. Northrop Grumman Corporation has achieved its seventeenth CMMI® Level 5, the highest possible rating for benchmarking commercial and defense industry best practices for management and engineering. The National Security Operations business, part of Northrop Grumman’s Mission Systems sector, attained an organization-wide CMMI-SE/SW Level 5 maturity rating against the Software Engineering mInstitute Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI®) standard. The Mission Systems sector now has 12 and Northrop Grumman has 17 CMMI® Level 5 ratings, the most earned by any defense or commercial company to date. The ratings assure Northrop Grumman customers that the company is providing improved quality, greater productivity and predictable program performance. Northrop Grumman’s latest rating was awarded after a comprehensive assessment of its Landover, Md., facility. Comskil, Inc., an independent external organization, conducted the appraisal in accordance with the formal Standard CMMI® Appraisal